Crime and Punishment
by Thestormwarrior
Summary: Three rouge leaders rule over a land to the west of the clans. They have complete control, but what will happen when a young kit is born destined to kill them? The three leaders go out of their way to make sure that doesn't happen.  Rated t for safety
1. The tale told by the deceiver

_Crime and Punishment_

Some cats are born evil, and some are made evil. Tell you the truth; I'm not sure where me and my brothers fall into those categories. You see, we weren't always evil. We were born to a very sweet and kind she-cat. One day while she was out hunting with us, a badger attacked and killed her. We ran away and soon were accepted into an order of rouges. That's where we discovered our natural talents. They renamed us to fit our talents. I was named for my ability to trick others without getting caught. My older brother was named for being able to tell lies with a straight face. And my younger brother, well, he was named for his skills in killing cats. Due to these skills, we gained rank quickly and soon became the leaders of the order of the rouges. Sometimes, we're called the three evils.

I'm called Deceit. I may sound a little fierce and evil but I'm not as bad as my brothers. My brothers Lie and Murder are the ones you should always look out for. If it wasn't for them, my reputation wouldn't be as bad. Lie is that dust colored tom while Murder is the grayish brown tom. I would avoid them if I were you. As you can see, I'm just gray in color. Perhaps one of the few things we share is our silver-gray eyes. Of course, they're different shades of grey but hey- it's something we have in common.

Maybe I should tell you what's going on. One of the duties of being leaders is knowing of every kit born and every cat that died. Mostly we deal with the second one but today we're seeing kits being born. Judging by my brother's expressions, they aren't too thrilled about this. They'd much rather be killing some cats instead of this. They really like to kill cats. I'm not trying to exaggerate or scare you- they just like to kill things. I prefer life over death, thank you very much!

Since we got there late because I had to convince my brothers to come, we missed the arrival of the first two kits. Both were she cats. The older one was white with brown spots and brown paws. The other she cat was golden with darker stripes on her back. It wasn't long until the third kit was born, a strong looking tom with light orange fur. The cat we had put in charge of healing, Sage, looked over to me and smiled.

"We're just about to name them."

I nodded my head and looked over the kits again. "Name the tom Blaze for his orange pelt. The golden she cat should be named Horizon. I'm not sure about the other she cat though."

The father of the kits lifted his head. "She should be called Zephyr. It means gentle breeze."

I could practically hear Murder and Lie gagging. They weren't fond of sweet or gentle things either. I rolled my eyes and let out a silent groan. Then while watching Sage to see how she treats her patients, I noticed how her ears perked up. She turned back to Mia, the black and white she cat who had the kits, and tilted her head in confusion. Then after just a few moments, Mia let out an ear piercing shriek. I shrank back a little in fear; I had no clue what was wrong with the queen.

Sage put a paw lightly on Mia's stomach. She tilted her head and muttered. "This is strange….."

"What's wrong?" I asked

"Her body is telling her that she still is having her kits but there's only supposed to be three kits…"

"That's strange."

"I know, I never seen anything like this before." Sage stated

"Is there anything you can do?" Leaftail, the father of the kits, asked with panic in his voice.

"There's no herb that can stop this. All we can do is hope and pray to Starclan that she'll be alright."

After several painstaking minutes, a fourth- and impossibly small kitten was born. From the look of things, he was only half the size of his littermates and didn't have a good chance of survival. Sage turned to me and commanded

"Lick the kit's fur the wrong way!"

"Wha-"

"DON'T ARGUE WITH ME!" Sage shouted at me

I whimpered and started to lick the tiny kitten, willing him to live. For a heartbeat, I wasn't sure whether I could save him. Just as I thought all was lost, I heard a faint mew. With a sigh of relief, I picked the kitten up and showed him to Sage. She purred

"Aw….. He's adorable and so tiny…"

I heard Murder growl from the entrance of the den. I nodded my head to Sage and turned to him. Through a mouthful of kit fur I asked

"What's your deal?"

Murder came over, and with a low threating growl he stated. "Kill that- that thing NOW!"

"I won't kill him. What would we even gain from doing so?"

"Don't you see what he looks like? That kit is obviously cursed and you know it!"

I placed the kit down so I could get a better look of him. He had mainly black fur, a fluffy white tipped tail, white paws, a white dash on either side of him, and a white underbelly. The bottom half of his face was also white giving him what appeared to be a black mask that comes down from his ears to his nose. There was a small triangle of white separating the mask. I could see why Murder was afraid of this kit. I knew it and deep down, I was also scared. I muttered

"A kit with the fur pattern of a badger..."

"Exactly….. You know why you have to kill him now." Lie smirked, walking over to us

I glanced down to the kitten, he was just so sweet and innocent looking. Was it truly wrong to kill a kit with its eyes closed? Of course it was. However, this was a cursed kit and that made things different. At least I hope it did….

"Well?" Murder pressed "Are you going to kill it?"

I looked at the kitten and made my final decision. "No."

"What? Why not?" He demanded

"I'm not letting you kill an innocent kit that probably won't even survive long on his own."

Murder hissed and walk out of the den. "This'll be the death of us and you know it!"

Lie followed him out soon afterwards. I shook my head in disbelief and brought the kit over to his parents. Mia purred

"Thanks. I thought for sure they would kill him!"

"I wouldn't let them. Anyways, what do you want to call him?"

Mia tilted her head. "Hm…. I not sure about that one. Leaftail? You got any ideas?"

He nodded "Just one- Aeolus."

"Aeolus? What does that mean?"

"It's a twoleg term. It means the god of the winds. You know- so he knows that he's part Windclan because of me."

Mia nodded and smiled "That's a good name for him. It's just too bad that he won't be raised in a clan."

"That may be true dear but which clan would we have raised him in? You being Riverclan and Shadowclan and me being Windclan?"

"I would've gone to Windclan to be with you…"

I never heard the rest of their conversation as I was focused on Sage. She was so deep in thought and that was never a good thing. After a few seconds her forest green eyes widened and shifted to look first at me and then at Aeolus. Sage motioned me to come over with a flick of her tail and I obeyed. She whispered into my ear.

"I just received an omen from Starclan!"

"Well what did they say?" I asked

She took in a deep breath. "Three evils rule the land; one will dare to challenge them. Lies and tricks will take away what matters most but the cat will not give in. Then the murderer will kill one cat too many. War of the shadows and wind will rage, but the strike of a badger will end it all."

"Let me guess- you also are suggesting that I kill him?"

Sage opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but thought against it. After a few seconds she replied. "Yes. I strongly advise it but I'm not forcing you to kill him. Aeolus will kill all three of you if my understanding of the prophecy is correct."

I frowned. "Everything will be fine, I'm not hurting him."

Little did I know but that would one day be the worst mistake that I ever made.


	2. Words reveal the truth

**AN: Sorry if you think this chapter is a complete fail. I got so excited while writing it because I go to Philadelphia today on a field trip! We go on coach buses too. It wrote this story in-like- thirty minutes so that's why it might fail.**

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><p>Sometimes mistakes are made and you can't change it. Aeolus should've never lived past the first moments of his life. It just wasn't possible that he outlived both of his sisters and even his brother. I'm not even sure what had happened to Zephyr and Horizon, they just were gone the next time I went to see the kits. Blaze? Well from what I heard, both Aeolus and him went out playing one day and they ended up running into rats. Blaze gave his own life to protect his little brother. Well, that's my understanding of the events. But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if my brothers had something to do with it. They wouldn't give up a grudge up easily. In fact, they might be planning something now for all I know.<p>

"Deceit?"

I turned my head to the small voice. It was Aeolus. "Yes?"

He looked up at me with his bright amber eyes and tilted his head. "Weren't you supposed to tell me about how the Order of The Rouges works? At least- that's what dad said."

"I almost forgot." Normally it would be me and my brothers instructing the kits in how things work around here but they were off training their apprentice right now. Surely it would be alright to teach the kit myself? "Alright. Let's head off."

We walked for a ways, only stopping once to rest. Aeolus might be half the size of normal kits his age but he obviously could make up for it in his own ways. He seemed brave and confident, not even backing down when yelled at- instead- he stands up for himself. For what I had seen, he had most of his father's traits. A definite Windclan cat but he had the sneaky ways of his mother's clan. I once caught him all the way near the border where he only smiled at being caught and said while looking out to the clan territories

'_One day, I'll join the clans and make my parents proud! They'll be so happy for me!'_

Normally, a kit caught near the clan borders would be severely punished but I couldn't bring myself to hurt Aeolus. He was different from the others but- I wasn't sure how. There were differences in the way he held himself up and how he talked. Something… off about him…

One day I had caught him talking about a cat with dog teeth in his collar who also had claws enforced with these teeth. Aeolus described this cat in detail- a slightly smaller than normal tom with black fur, one white forepaw, and he had ice blue eyes that seemed to be able to see right through you. Aeolus had said that this cat was- "_The killer of the tiger_."

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><p>"We're here." I stated as I signaled around the clearing. It was quite large with space for many dens- but of course the only dens here were mine and my brother's dens. It was close to the training ground and hunting grounds. The equivalent of a clan camp. Aeolus let out a shocked mew as he glanced around. If it was huge for a warrior then of course it would be even larger for a kit.<p>

"WOW! This place is HUGE!"

"I hate to crush your hopes and dreams but…. This is something I must tell all kits. Your true training begins at 3 moons old- for you that's in 2 moons. All kits shown to have a disability such as blindness, deafness, muteness or a deformed limb… they're slated to be part of the training…."

"What do you mean?" Aeolus asked, completely oblivious to what I would say next.

"We kill them. It's to weed out the weak and the useless. We raise those disabled kits till they're old enough to be part of the training. It isn't my rule- it's Murder's. He has the regular apprentices perform all the deadliest battle moves on these disabled kits. The slightest sign of mercy, the offending apprentice is punished severely. Sometimes it's as mild as a warning scratch. Sometimes it means that the apprentice is to fight one of their comrades to the death to prove their loyalty. Other times- my brother outright kills the apprentice….."

Aeolus shrank down a bit. "Would that mean I'm a disabled kit because of my size?"

"No…. You just have a disadvantage…." I replied though it was a lie, something that rubbed off on me from my brother. I had the habit of lying if I'm stressed out. Aeolus was too small- the size of regular newborn kit. There was no way he could survive his first real battle but then again…

"That's a relief. You know- you're a lot nicer than your brothers."

I smiled slightly at the sweet comment but it wasn't true. I was just like my brothers just- I didn't show it. "Let me finish what I was saying earlier. You will have a final assessment and if you pass it- you get your true name."

"True- name?" Aeolus asked. "But I like my name!"

"I know you do. You see my name wasn't always Deceit I once had a different name given to me by my mother. This is little known but…."

"TELL ME!" He shouted out in excitement.

"Shush!" I scolded. "If Murder and Lie hear this- they'll rip my pelt off!"

"Oh… Sorry…."

"Lie's original name was Uso, Murder's original name was Satsujin and my original name was Sagi."

I heard Aeolus chuckling. "That's so funny!"

I shook my head slightly. "Our mother saw who we truly are- who we were going to be. Uso means lie, Satsujin means murder and Sagi means fraud aka deceit. Just like what you and your siblings were named for. You're named after the twoleg god of wind. Quite fitting for you."

"If you had to rename me- what would you call me then?"

"So many questions….." I muttered to myself as I thought. Suddenly it came to me, a unique name just for him. Mother had said that the 'one' who named this would be a strong warrior when they grew up. No one knew of the name except me- not even my brothers were told of it. It fit Aeolus so well too. "I would rename you- Typhoon."

Aeolus tilted his head. "What's that?"

"It's the strongest storm there is. It has powerful rain and strong gusts of wind. It is highly feared by those who know about them. It fits you."

"Typhoon….." Aeolus repeated, a smile creeping on to his face. "I like it!"

"I'm glad. Promise me that you'll never forget."

"I won't. I promise."


End file.
